Controlling the outboard motors used on fishing boats and the like is a task which may make it more difficult to attend to more enjoyable tasks, like fishing itself. To the extent that a fisherman must occupy his hands and arms in steering or otherwise controlling his boat, he loses the opportunity to concentrate on fishing.
Various foot pedal devices have been used in order to allow operators to control their outboard motors without the use of their hands and arms. Such foot pedal devices have been widely used to control electric trolling motors, particularly bow-mounted electric trolling motors.
A variety of foot pedal devices have been developed, including devices having a single "push-pull" cable and others having two "pull-pull" cables. In either case, each cable has an end secured within the foot pedal device and extending toward the outboard motor which it controls.
Such cables are usually used to steer the outboard motor. In the case of bow-mounted electric trolling motors, the cables are connected to apparatus causing a vertical motor-mounting shaft to turn to change the direction of the motor in the water.
The following U.S. Pat. Nos. disclose foot control devices of the prior art: 2,507,894; 2,757,630; 2,749,872; 2,804,838; 2,877,733; 2,901,918; 2,912,877; 2,968,273; 2,988,037; 2,988,930; 3,002,398; 3,475,985; 3,602,181; 3,606,858; 3,807,345; 3,889,625; 4,130,079; and 4,295,385.
The devices of the prior art include a number of push-pull and pull-pull cable systems having a variety of mechanical linkages, as well as other types of mechanical and electrical devices. Many of the mechanical devices, including pulley systems of various kinds, are built into the boat in the sense that various pulleys and cable guides are permanently attached to the boat. Examples of such devices included U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,912,877 and 2,749,872. Such devices lack portability and are not particularly useful as controls for electric trolling motors.
Fisherman using electric trolling motors often want to be fishing from different parts of their boats, and therefore may want to move the foot pedal control to accommodate their changed positions. For that reason, recent developments in foot pedal control devices relate primarily to portable devices, such as those disclosed in several of the above U.S. Pat. Nos. including: 2,804,838; 2,877,733; 2,968,273; 3,002,398; 3,602,181; 3,606,858; 3,807,345; 3,889,625; 4,130,079; 4,295,385.
This invention relates to foot pedal control devices of the portable type, which can be easily moved to various locations within the boat to accommodate the needs of the fisherman.
Pull-pull systems are often preferred over push-pull systems because they operate somewhat more easily and are less prone to develop mechanical problems. This invention applies to pull-pull systems.
Portable foot control devices of the prior art are often difficult to operate. More specifically, it is difficult to obtain accurate control of steering if substantial foot force must be applied just to get steering movement to start. This problem is made more acute by the fact that in certain devices of the prior art very small movements of the pedal will lead to major changes in steering direction. With this unfortunate combination of factors, oversteering can often result.
Lack of sufficient control is often experienced more at one portion of pedal movement and/or in one direction of pedal movement, thus further complicating control of the boat using such devices. There is a need for improvement in the ease of operation of portable foot control devices.
With many portable foot control devices of the prior art, operation is somewhat clumsy due to the nature of the foot movement required for operation. More specifically, with certain devices it is necessary to pivot the pedal through a substantial arc by applying only toe pressure or only heel pressure. This stresses the ankle and makes operation more difficult at a time the operator would like to be concentrating on his fishing.
Furthermore, with foot control pedals of the type having momentary switches as part of the pedal, simultaneous operation of the momentary switch and the foot pedal itself is just about impossible when the pedal is being pivoted in one direction. A momentary switch is used to actuate an electric trolling motor for short periods, to provide minute adjustments in boat position for fishing. Some momentary switches are slightly raised pads on the forward (toe) portions of the foot pedal. When heel pressure is being applied for steering, it is often very difficult if not impossible to keep the momentary switch actuated.
Thus, improvements are needed in the manner of operating foot pedal controls to make operation easier and more effective.
A further problem in certain foot control devices of the prior art is that, despite their portability, they are too limited in where they can be placed on the floor of the boat. This limitation is imposed by the coaxial cables which extend from the foot control devices to the outboard motor to be controlled. The cables (coaxial cables) are of necessity somewhat stiff and typically extend from the front of the pedal device. This prevents the operator from placing the foot control device in a forward position close to a bulkhead in his boat.
On the other hand, it is not desirable to design a foot control device to have the cables protruding straight up as would accommodate forward placement against a bulkhead, because in many other situations operators want the cables out of their way.
Improvements are needed in the configuration and/or operation of foot control devices in order to enlarge the area of possible placement of such devices in a boat.